On My Block Wiki:Manual of Style
The Manual of Style is an ultimate style guide for all On My Block Wiki articles. The purpose of this manual is to create guidelines to help keep uniform content across articles in the Siren Wiki, while assisting editors in producing articles with consistent, clear, and precise language, layout, and formatting. Consistency in style and formatting promotes clarity and cohesion; this is especially important within an article. Reading this is highly recommended to make the editing process efficient, as it would save editors a lot of corrections. If any questions, suggestions or issues arise, please contact admin. :DISCLAIMER: This manual is under construction. Anything written here is subject to change, and certain exceptions may apply. Articles Article Titles All articles should have appropriate titles, with regards to capitalization—the first letter of every word should be capitalized with the exception of articles, prepositions and coordinating conjunctions. Article Sections For a detailed description of how an in-universe article must be written and structured, consult the Layout Guide. As a general guide, all in-universe articles should be structured as follows: *Opening Quote * Infobox * Description * Main Sections * Appearances * Trivia * References * External Links * Categories Article Headings Heading Format In order to create Sections for an article, the (heading) markup must be used headings, not the ' (bold) markup. Example: This is a heading Using this codes, a table of contents is automatically generated from the headings in an article. Sections can be automatically numbered for users with that preference set and words within properly marked headings are given greater weight in searches. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article. Heading Rules * Unlike Wikipedia and many other wikis, the Siren Wiki uses the Title Capitalization rule *# Capitalize from the first to the last word *# Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions. *# Lowercase '''articles' (a, an, the), coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions *# Lowercase the "to" in an infinitive. * Headings must not contain links, however it is allowed on subheadings. If one does use links on subheadings, the whole text should be linked, not a part of it. * Headings must not contain images. Article Bodies Links Internal Links Any internal article should be linked in every mention in another article's infobox, once upon its first mention in another article's intro, and once upon its first mention in each of other articles' sub-sections. *'Unnecessary Punctuation' — Refrain from linking unnecessary punctuation in the articles. For example, "Monse's" would be preferred over "Monse's". External Links External links should not normally be used in the body of an article. Instead, articles can include an External links section at the end, pointing to further information outside Siren Wiki as distinct from citing sources. The standard format is a primary heading, External links , followed by a bulleted list of links. *'Wikipedia Links' — To link to an article in Wikipedia, use wikipedia: and put the article title inside. If an article does not exist by that name, the link will show up as dark red, like this. External links will show up as a cyan color. *'Do not use external links in the body of an article' — External Links must be reserved for the trivia, external links, and references sections. Templates *Notice templates (such as Template:Stub) must go at the very top of an article before any content is added. *Infobox templates (such as Template:Infobox Character and Template:Infobox) must always appear at the top of an article. *Categories that a template automatically adds to an article are not to manually inserted. Images *A picture is better than no picture. Do not remove a picture of a character, item, etc. from an article, even if it doesn't conform to these guidelines unless you replace it with a better image or the image is a copyright violation. *Avoid having text between two or more images (sandwich effect). or between an image and an infobox. *Images that are not part of an infobox, in an article, should be placed where they are most relevant and should not interrupt the flow or the aesthetics of the article. They should also contain a caption. Images should be placed before or after paragraphs or sections of text, not right in the middle of them. **Tip: Placing them immediately underneath a heading or subheading usually works quite well *For images that are not part of an infobox, Use the "thumb" function in the image tag. Thumbnails shown in the article should generally be 220px/250px. Example: Categories Every article must be categorized, adding one of the existing categories that can be applied to it. Consult the Categorization Guide in order to consult the categories that should be applied to each article. A list of categories can be found . Due to misunderstandings of the whole purpose of categorizing, we ask that you do not create new categories and add them to articles. Most of the time, if a category does not exist, it is not intended to exist, or there is already an existing category that covers its purpose. Please be sure to ask the Administrators before creating a category, even if you may think it is needed. This is to avoid the deletion of categories and ruining the current categorization system that has been set for the On My Block Wiki. Spelling American English spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word usage will be the standard on this wiki's official content such as articles and templates, unless the official term or source is of another language. Formal use of language is mandatory on all canon mainspace articles to be as encyclopedic and formal as possible. # Formal Language: Not colloquial. Avoid the usage of slang and conversational or casual undertones. # Encyclopedic Language: Language must be clear and unambiguous. Avoid unnecessary verbosity. This Wiki should use simple language and sentence structure for the sake of all readers. Language should not be too vague, and sentences should not be too long. Grammar Grammar is a writer's toolbox. You can't build good sentences without knowing how to use your tools. Since a wiki article must be as clear as possible for all the people reading it, editors must keep close to correct grammar standards to ensure clear communication. Three C's * To best achieve a Good Article, writers here generally apply this rule of thumb: language should be clear, consistent, and concise. *# Clarity mandates that the language relay its message sharply, unambiguous, and be wholly self-evident. It is important to be as clear and neutral as possible so as to communicate the idea of a sentence effectively to the reader. *# Consistency ensures article flow, an important aspect in being clear. The article should be easy to read and predictable, while assuming a reasonable comprehension level. *# Concision, or brevity, is the art of using no more words than necessary to convey an idea, though it should not be misunderstood with "leaving out information". It is an important practice when writing so that you do not lose your audience — try to think "get to the point" as much as possible. Formal Vocabulary * The titles of works should be italics, such as On My Block. * Avoid the use of any contractions, such as “didn’t” “could’ve” etc. Use the full forms “did not” and "could have” instead. Contractions do not belong in encyclopedic writing styles. ** "It’s" is a contraction, and should not be used."It’s" is short for "it is" and is not the possessive of "it", the possessive form of "it" is "its" with no apostrophe. Capitalization * Unnecessary capitalization should be avoided, particularly when the word(s) or phrase is not a title or a proper name. * Titles—When creating a new page, capitalize all words in the title, unless the article title matches the title of a novel or other work that follows a different capitalization rule. ** Exceptions are articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions. Do not capitalize these three. Examples: To Catch a''' Thief (article), One Year '''in Paris (preposition), Magic and Daybreak (coordinating conjunction) Category:Policies and Guidelines